GLÈISA DE SANT ESTÈUE

The church dates from the 14th Century, just as Gothic art began to emerge, as witnessed by the coexistence of the Romanesque and Gothic styles in the church’s architecture and sculptures. The apse and the portal of Sant Estèue are the two sections where this transition from Romanesque to Gothic can best be seen. The sanctuary is formed by three polygonal apses; a central apse with five sides, flanked by three-sided apses. Each apse has its respective windows, which alternate Roman and Gothic arches: above the central apse a window that is clearly of Gothic inspiration is flanked, in contrast, by two loophole windows in the Romanesque tradition.
The main portal, one of the church’s most interesting artistic elements, is placed in the north wall, and in its day a new conception of the portal; stylistically it is a foretaste of the naturalistic, narrative style of Gothic sculpture, to such an extent that in the facade’s concentric arches we can ‘read’ the Bible story of the Last Judgement, with a depiction of the damned set against the elect; in the upper section, the Virgin, with the infant Jesus in her lap, looks down on the scene.
At the top of the west wall stands a double-arched belfry; inside the church there is a stoup, which can probably be dated to around the 16th-17th centuries, supported by a column with a Romanesque base.

 

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